I consider myself fairly well read on the history of the National Football League. I’ve been watching games since I was six and have long been fascinated by the game and the league’s history pretty much ever since.

I think remembering and recognizing the great personalities and players that made the league what it has become today is important for fans and hope it is important to today’s players, who are benefiting from the work done by their older brethren.

That said, as the 50-year anniversary of the American Football League comes along, I have realized I’m not as well read on the NFL’s former rival league. Sure, I knew about the merger and about some of the personalities – Joe Namath, George Blanda, Len Dawson, et al.

And I’d guess I’m not alone. With the merger that followed and the years that have since passed, the AFL has sadly become a footnote in some fans’ minds.

But not everyone has forgotten. Angelo Coniglio has created a Web site, www.remembertheafl.com, aimed at celebrating the AFL’s history and its contributions to the league that resulted from the merger. He established an AFL Hall of Fame that recognizes more than 120 players, owners, and other contributors to the league’s success. And he’s passionate about informing and reminding today’s fans of the impact the AFL had on what the NFL has become today.

Mr. Coniglio agreed to answer some questions from Zoneblitz about his Web site and his memories of the AFL.

Zoneblitz: On your site you recognize something around 125 players, coaches, owners and other officials at the AFL Hall of Fame – describe how you got started on this project?

Coniglio: I remember the Buffalo Bills of the All-America Conference – a league that was scoffed at by the NFL, which did not accept the Bills when the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) folded. But the Cleveland Browns of that “inferior league” won the NFL championship in their first year in the league, and dominated it for years. When the AFL came along, I became a Bills and an AFL fan, and heard the same disparaging remarks about the AFL by the established league that they had made about the AAFC, and I figured they were just as wrong. (answer continued)

The first question I asked on June 6, 1966 when the merger was announced was “what are they going to call the merged league?” I and many other AFL fans felt it should be “Major League Football” or “Professional Football” with the AFL and the NFL keeping their names, rules, and logos. There was nothing in Public Law 89-800, the law that permitted the merger, which prohibited that. Then it would have been like Major League Baseball, two leagues, with a championship game between the champs of each league, instead of just an NFL championship game.

When I developed a family Web site in 2000, I included the things I like, such as the American Football League. I soon had so many pages devoted to it that I created a separate site, www.remembertheafl.com.

I have an AFL Hall of Fame because I believe many great personalities of the league have been given short shrift by the NFL-dominated media, and I found that Google or Yahoo! searches for “AFL” or its players returned very little about the league. One exception was Robert Phillips’ site, which is now at http://afl-football.50webs.com/. His was the first comprehensive site about the AFL, and it inspired me. One aspect of my site is the AFL Hall of Fame, which now gives Internet surfers a chance to read about these great players.

Zoneblitz: Why did this mission become so important to you?

Coniglio: Truth. The NFL is one of the richest, most powerful entities in the world, today’s young Professional Football fans, and even active pro players are fed comments like “Super Bowl III was one of the NFL’s greatest games,” and “George Blanda played 27 years in the NFL.”

Of course, Super Bowl III was one of the AFL’s greatest games; Blanda actually played ten years in the AFL, and in fact to this day declares that he is an “AFL man.” I believe that since its inception, the AFL was much better than what the NFL and its writers made it out to be, and I’d like today’s fans and players to know that.

Zoneblitz: Why do you think it is so important to preserve the history of the AFL independently of preserving the history of professional football in general?

Coniglio: Colorful uniforms, players’ names on jerseys, two point conversions, passing offense instead of “three yards and a cloud of dust”, official time on the scoreboard instead of in the referee’s pocket, national TV coverage, double-headers, revenue sharing of gate and TV monies to help small-market teams, recruiting and drafting from small and predominantly black colleges, expansion of Professional Football from a predominantly northeastern sport to the south, midwest, and west – it wasn’t the NFL that did this, it was the AFL. It should be recognized and remembered as the genesis of modern Professional Football.

Zoneblitz: What kind of response to you get from fans and former AFL players?

Coniglio: To this day, AFL fans (including many from NFL areas) make comments like “they never should have merged”; “I still root for any AFL team if it’s playing an NFL team”; “I’m bored by Super Bowls that don’t have a former AFL team playing”; etc. Former AFL players are gracious and appreciative of being recognized, and believe more of their brethren should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Zoneblitz: How gratifying was it to see Ralph Wilson enshrined in Canton this month?

Coniglio: Very. The AFL, and therefore Professional Football as we know it today, would not exist if it weren’t for Wilson. Typically, his induction was long overdue. For example, Hank Stram was inducted when he was too old, ill and weak to give his acceptance speech, NINE YEARS AFTER the man whose team he beat in the last World Championship game (Bud Grant). Why? Grant coached in the NFL, Stram coached in the “inferior” AFL.

Zoneblitz: Who are the three or four most deserving Hall of Fame candidates from the AFL who are currently not enshrined in Canton?

Coniglio:
Johnny Robinson:
Larry Wilson played for the NFL’s Cardinals from 1960 through 1972, a total of 169 games. He made the NFL Pro Bowl 8 times. He had 52 career interceptions and 44 career points. In 1966, he had 10 interceptions. He did a minor amount of punt/kickoff returning, rushing, or receiving. He played in one post-season game, the laughable NFL “Runner-up Bowl”, in 1964. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978, six years after he retired, one year after he was eligible.

Meanwhile, Robinson played for the AFL’s Texans/Chiefs from 1960 through 1971, a total of 164 games. He was an AFL All-star six times and made the Pro Bowl once, after the leagues merged. He had 57 career interceptions and 108 career points. In 1966, like Wilson, he also had 10 interceptions. He averaged over 13 yards on 24 punt/kickoff returns, had over 600 yards receiving in each of his first two years, and a 4.4 yard rushing average on 150 carries. Unlike Wilson, Robinson saw meaningful post-season action. He played in three league championship games, his team winning all three. He played in two super bowls, his team going 1 – 1. In Super Bowl IV, playing with three broken ribs, he had an interception and a fumble recovery, helping the Chiefs defense hold that year’s version of “the greatest team in history” to seven points. He was eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1976. The NFL-oriented selectors overlooked his accomplishments because he played in the AFL. Now, Robinson’s a “senior candidate” and although the former selectors may have been replaced, their replacements are too young to remember Johnny. There are several other AFL stars who have “fallen between the cracks” in the same way.

Tom Sestak:
At 6-4, Tom Sestak had the size, speed and strength to handle any offensive lineman.  He was a starter in his rookie year and, until a series of knee injuries slowed him down, he played without parallel in the American Football League. What separated him from other linemen was his great strength.

More than once Sestak amazed the opposition and his fans by reaching up, while sprawled on the turf behind the line of scrimmage, and tackling a running back in full stride, for a loss! Twice during his outstanding career he realized the defensive lineman’s “dream”, returning interceptions for touchdowns.

Sestak was and American Football League All-Star for three consecutive years in 1963, 1964 and 1965. He was the cornerstone of a defense that took the Bills to the AFL championships in 1964 and 1965, while holding opposing rushers without a touchdown for 17 straight games, and a member of the All-Time American Football League Team. His short career of seven years is the reason given for excluding him. There are eight men in the Hall of Fame who paid seven years or less. They played in the NFL.

Abner Haynes:
In 1960, Haynes led the American Football League in rushing attempts, yards, and TDs in the league’s first year. He was the league’s first Most Valuable Player, and its first Rookie of the Year. He captured the AFL’s first rushing crown with 875 yards, and also led the Dallas Texans in receiving, punt returns, and kickoff returns. Haynes spent three years in Dallas and two with the Kansas City Chiefs.

He still owns 11 franchise records, including most points in a game (30), most touchdowns in a season (19), most touchdowns in a game (5), most career 100-yard rushing games (12), most career rushing touchdowns (39) and most career combined yards (8,442). Over his career he was regularly among the American Football League’s top ten rushers, ranking third all-time, and the all-time leader in touchdowns, with 46.

He was Hall of Fame head coach Hank Stram’s most versatile and dangerous weapon from 1960-62, amassing 43 touchdowns and 4,472 yards on rushes and receptions. In 1962, he helped the Texans win the American Football League championship in the classic double-overtime victory over the defending champion Houston Oilers, scoring touchdowns on a 28-yard pass reception from quarterback Len Dawson, and on a 2-yard run.

Stram said “He was a franchise player before they talked about franchise players. He did it all – rushing, receiving, kickoff returns, punt returns. He gave us the dimension we needed to be a good team in Dallas.”

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Haynes had great speed and dazzling moves in the open field, and set AFL records with 5 touchdowns in a game and 19 touchdowns in a season in 1961, and with 46 career rushing touchdowns. He also played for the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins, and the New York Jets.

During his 8 professional seasons, Haynes carried the ball 1,036 times for 4,630 yards, a 4.5 average; caught 287 passes for 3,535 yards, a 12.3 average, and 20 touchdowns; returned 85 punts for 875 yards, a 10.3 average, and 1 touchdown; and ran back 121 kickoffs for 3,025 yards, a 25.0 average, and 1 touchdown, and ran a recovered fumble back for a td: 69 total touchdowns, for 414 points. His 12,065 combined yards is the American Football League record. Haynes had three games in which he gained 100 or more yards on 14 or fewer carries.

The argument used against Haynes’ induction, like Sestak, is that his career was too short. There are 20 men in the Hall of Fame who played eight or fewer years. Of course, THEY all played in the NFL.

Charlie Hennigan:
Hennigan joined the Houston Oilers in their first year, 1960. He scored the first touchdown in Oilers history, but played in only 11 games. After a promising rookie season, in 1961 he started all 14 games and established himself as a superstar in the American Football League by gaining 1,746 yards receiving, a Professional Football record that stood for 34 years. One of quarterback George Blanda’s main targets, Hennigan was the first professional football player to catch more than a hundred passes in a single season (101 in 1964) and to twice gain over 1,500 yards in pass receiving (1961 and 1964).

He holds the all-time records for most games (3) in a season with over 200 yards receiving, and most games (11) in a season with over 100 yards receiving. Hennigan had the All-time AFL single game record of 272 yards receiving, against the Boston Patriots on October 16, 1961. He was an American Football League All-Star five straight years, 1961 through 1965, and is a member of the All-Time All-AFL second team.

Zoneblitz: In this linked story you mention efforts to reach the commissioner and other NFL officials to make sure the AFL’s 50th anniversary is recognized this year – were you ultimately able to reach them and did they take any of your advice?

Coniglio: Some teams (Bills, Chiefs) responded to my letters, but the NFL never acknowledged them, even though I wrote three times. I don’t know if they took my advice, but they’re doing many of the things I suggested.

Zoneblitz: What do you think of the league’s efforts at recognizing the AFL thus far (such as the throwback uniforms at the Hall of Fame game) and their plans for the season?

Coniglio: I like the throwback uniforms (including officials), games between former AFL teams, and a special 50th Anniversary patch (worn only for some games). One thing I suggested was that all former AFL teams wear an AFL-50 patch all season – they’re not doing that. I would also like to see a reunion of all surviving AFL players at the next Super Bowl. No word on whether they’re going to do that.

Zoneblitz: What can fans and readers do to help with your project or in remembering or acknowledging the history of the AFL?

Coniglio: There are many AFL throwback hats, jerseys, pennants, coins and signs available. Fans can show they remember the AFL by purchasing these items. Nothing impresses the NFL like money. Fans can also nominate deserving AFL players to the Hall of Fame, and contact their home teams to let them know that they remember the AFL and want the teams to remember as well.

Fans can write to the NFL and ask that a Thanksgiving game be played every year, between two former AFL teams, restoring a tradition that began BEFORE the Cowboys ever played a Thanksgiving game.